Where Do You Fall on the Fandom Spectrum?

LTK_70

New member
Aug 28, 2009
598
0
0
Obsessions, though, the kind that makes them wish every moment of their life was happening in this fictional world, can be seriously unhealthy. Are Twilight fans even on the same spectrum as people who argue over which Star Wars movie was the worst?
 

Quaxar

New member
Sep 21, 2009
3,949
0
0
Now let's get serious for a moment... what sonic screwdriver are we talking about? The 3rd Doctor's, the 9/10 edition or the new version?
 

zedel

New member
Sep 16, 2010
71
0
0
"Ask the 19-year-old me how she felt when The Phantom of the Opera hit movie theaters, and be prepared for a lot of profanity." I would love to see an article on this, but I suppose I'm the only one. D: I remember that I spent the entirety of the moving pointing out where they did things "wrong". Though, in retrospect, I suppose it could have been much worse on poor Erik. :(
 

dibblywibbles

New member
Mar 20, 2009
313
0
0
I'm a very casual fan. I like stuff....a lot of stuff. why obsess over one thing when there's so much out there to see and do? if there's one thing that I may be a tad over protective about is my sports teams. I will defend my teams no matter how bad they suck(I'm looking at you Senators)
 

JakobBloch

New member
Apr 7, 2008
156
0
0
I am low maintenance fan. The reason is simple. By not diving deeply down into any giving fandom I can experience a lot more. So to speak.

I got a way to describe myself and it goes something like this: "If there is something that makes you a geek there is a good chance I have been into it at some time or another."

As for those three classifications I think it may be oversimplified but I suppose that is inevitable when trying to classify anything.
 

KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
2,846
0
0
Great article; the sonic screw driver was to awesome a toy to pass up huh?

Incidentally, what does the 19 year old you think of Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera?
 

bushwhacker2k

New member
Jan 27, 2009
1,587
0
0
It's kind of rare to me to disagree with almost everything in an article I read.

Intellectual Fan > Emotional Fan. If you intellectually find something stimulating and with intelligence determine it's worth and judge it with intelligence then... I think you're a step or 50 above the emotional screaming narutard (not to point fingers).

The point is: intellectual fans find a reason to like something with intelligence, if you read a book for the first time and announce "THIS IS THE GREATEST BOOK EVER!" with no previous book-reading experience then you are an emotional fan.

Did I miss something or is this whole article just an attempt to justify being a fanboy/girl?
 

guntotingtomcat

New member
Jun 29, 2010
522
0
0
Hey! I liked Butler's Phantom!

Anyhoo, no. I don't think that people somehow deserve credit simply because they encountered something first. Also, if you indulge in too much escapism, your behaviour will become challenging (stalkers, depressives, dilusionals etc).

I like the trend of internet discussion however. Multiple perspectives in conflict is healthy. Crucible of truth yada yada...
 

game-lover

New member
Dec 1, 2010
1,447
1
0
bushwhacker2k said:
It's kind of rare to me to disagree with almost everything in an article I read.

Intellectual Fan > Emotional Fan. If you intellectually find something stimulating and with intelligence determine it's worth and judge it with intelligence then... I think you're a step or 50 above the emotional screaming narutard (not to point fingers).

The point is: intellectual fans find a reason to like something with intelligence, if you read a book for the first time and announce "THIS IS THE GREATEST BOOK EVER!" with no previous book-reading experience then you are an emotional fan.

Did I miss something or is this whole article just an attempt to justify being a fanboy/girl?
I wouldn't say that. You're still going off the belief that one type of fan is better than the other.

Why does the intellectual fan have to be better than the emotional? Because he grew to like something that made him think as opposed to just entertaining him? That made him question his beliefs as opposed to making him admire how badass another character is? Seems kinda unfair if that's the case.

The real point of this article is that no fan is more superior than the other. Or at least they shouldn't be.


I myself like to place myself somewhere between obsessive and low maintenance.
 

putowtin

I'd like to purchase an alcohol!
Jul 7, 2010
3,452
0
0
I love Star Wars (I have the tattoo to prove it) but I don't visit star wars forums and can roll my eyes at whatever George Lucas is doing to ruin the franchise these days. Some people enjoy a book/film/play/game, others become obsessed, and these are the fans that in some ways end up ruining it for all.
Take for example Star Wars obsessive?s. Because of their obsession, they go out and buy everything that the Star Wars logo gets slapped on. They watch the Clone Wars cartoons, buy the books and the Jar Jar Binks drinks cup. Instead of saying ?Hey stop ruining my favourite films? their compulsion to own every thing Star Wars encourages every one at ?Brand Lucas? to continue pumping out bad tie ins and half finished works (Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed II being my examples here)

I love Star Wars (I still have the tattoo to prove it) but I will not buy or watch anything produced after Ep III, I will enjoy the movies and ignore the rest, including the obsessive fans.
 
Feb 13, 2008
19,430
0
0
Elizabeth Grunewald said:
The passion of the obsessive fan is a bit beyond my grasp, but it would be foolish to say this emotionally driven fan is any less legitimate than the intellectually driven one.
The emotional one tends to take things into emotional territory though, like anger, self-harm or depression. Intellectuals only usually sit their seething on forums about people who haven't heard of the first 8 Who's. ;)

If those Twihards are happy imagining Edward singing them to sleep every night, or what have you, let 'em. Similarly, I'll try not to bite your head off if you misquote early Simpsons episodes, or if you mix up your Muppet movies.
There is a difference though. People who delve into cosplay, fanfiction, or *shudder* slash are a lot better off than people who make decisions due to it. There are obvious parallels with religion here.
After all, I let Joel Schumacher live after Phantom came out, didn't I?
More than he deserved.

I can, and do, still get passionate about Who among other things, but I've never altered part of my life because of it. And that's what seems to happen with a number of the emotional fans. I can still say that Toshwood has a good plot occasionally *twitch* and the Doctor Who has had some god-awful plots in the past.

If someone doesn't want to watch it because "It's trash", then fair enough, not for them. But I dare you go back to the Twihard forums and criticize one iota of those books.

Quaxar said:
Now let's get serious for a moment... what sonic screwdriver are we talking about? The 3rd Doctor's, the 9/10 edition or the new version?
There's been 8 so far. The First/Second Doctor shared one. Third had one. Fourth had a different one. Seventh/Eighth shared one in the film (though it may have just been a colour change). Ninth's one was used until the Tenth burnt it out on the xray machine. Next lasted until the Eleventh Hour. Penultimate was bitten in half by the Christmas Shark. And then there's the future one. At the moment there's not one in the concurrent timeline.

If it's the shop bought one, it probably resembles Mark VI.
 

Notashrimp09

New member
Apr 27, 2009
37
0
0
You see this attitude in a lot of areas, though. It's one of my biggest frustrations with being an English major, particularly the creative writing courses. I can't even get a proper evaluation of my work unless I play their game, and everything I've learned in school about writing has been obtained by either sifting between the lines or learning what not to do. A subject that's partially titled "creative" shouldn't exclude everything and anyone's ideas that fall outside of "serious fiction." As much as I personally like pursuing the intellectual side of fandom, I like having people who I can talk to about a subject on any level.

I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway early last year, and as a major fan of the musical I refuse to see it again until they change the main cast.
Bare minimum: new Christine. I don't know who thought that interpretation of her character was a good idea.
 

valhala89

New member
Mar 9, 2010
49
0
0
putowtin said:
I love Star Wars (I have the tattoo to prove it) but I don't visit star wars forums and can roll my eyes at whatever George Lucas is doing to ruin the franchise these days. Some people enjoy a book/film/play/game, others become obsessed, and these are the fans that in some ways end up ruining it for all.
Take for example Star Wars obsessive?s. Because of their obsession, they go out and buy everything that the Star Wars logo gets slapped on. They watch the Clone Wars cartoons, buy the books and the Jar Jar Binks drinks cup. Instead of saying ?Hey stop ruining my favourite films? their compulsion to own every thing Star Wars encourages every one at ?Brand Lucas? to continue pumping out bad tie ins and half finished works (Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed II being my examples here)

I love Star Wars (I still have the tattoo to prove it) but I will not buy or watch anything produced after Ep III, I will enjoy the movies and ignore the rest, including the obsessive fans.
Wait what? clone wars cartoon a bad tie in?! as in the 2003 clone wars cartoon as opposed to the 2008 the clone wars animation? are you all there man? the 2003 clone wars were pretty epic.. I think you're getting your clone wars mixed up :)

Also the current animated series ain't all that bad when you give it a chance.. I mean it started off rocky but is pretty solid now... I mean TNG started off with Encounter at Farpoint

Also the franchise wasn't just ruined now... it started with the OT..I mean there was that ewok cartoon.. oh and lets not forget... wait more like lets just forget the christmas special ever took place...
 

BehattedWanderer

Fell off the Alligator.
Jun 24, 2009
5,237
0
0
Well, I'm not obsessed with any one thing, but I've got a low maintenance finer appreciation for a few things. And a tattoo bearing some other things that go a little beyond a casual appreciation.
 

vrbtny

Elite Member
Sep 16, 2009
1,959
0
41
I'll have a nerd off [small]and win[/small] with anyone over Halo.

But then, Halo Cannon is so totally screeeeewed up, that's it's pretty hard to firmly establish.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
I don't think I've ever been obsessive enough to count into this type of fandom.

Though I want a sonic screwdriver.

I enjoy a lot of franchises. I'm a fan of them. Not sure I can do much more than critique them as a fan, though.I'll never go to war over which Trek is superior, or try and kill someone who enjoys Attack of the Clones. And while I miss the Tenth Doctor, I'm not holding a candle light vigil.
 

OtherSideofSky

New member
Jan 4, 2010
1,051
0
0
I wouldn't say that one type is a better fan than the other, but someone with a genuinely intellectual understanding of something (I don't mean just knowing minutia, I mean someone who is able to do something genuinely academic with their interest) has probably achieved a lot more with the time they spent on it than someone who just whiled their life away obsessing over the thing. The same is true of people who use their interests as a springboard for new and creative artistic endeavors of their own. In other words: there's no such thing as being a better fan, but there is such a thing as being a better human being. There's also a big difference between someone who is a fan of Stephanie Myer (a hack who can't even use words correctly) and someone who is a fan of Lu Xun (one of the greatest writers in modern Chinese history, a significant part of of whose work remains untranslated).

Personally, I tend to be slightly obsessive and retain details well, but I never get so wrapped up in my hobbies that I lose sight of my goals or stop trying to create something meaningful. I feel that I can be critical enough of my own interests that I can actually gains something valuable from them rather than just putting something on a pedestal.